


Dog Person

by ellewrites



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But mostly fluff, M/M, PWP, Some Sex, all i got is fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 07:27:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20403928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellewrites/pseuds/ellewrites
Summary: “What?” Tony asked with indignation. “I love dogs.”Bruce burst out laughing then and Tony felt completely confused. He turned up on his side and looked over at Tony, obvious affection in his expression.“You lie with such a straight face.”





	Dog Person

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xYoSa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xYoSa/gifts).

> I am not a dog person.

Tony had never dated anyone like Bruce before.

When he’d gone into REI looking for a new ski jacket for an event he was hosting across the country, he definitely hadn’t expected to spend almost an hour flirting with the cute assistant manager resetting the planogram. In fact, he was so surprised by it that he almost didn’t ask for his number but as he was walking to the register he couldn’t stop thinking about his cute little grin and the way he laughed at all Tony’s bad jokes and he turned around and went all the way back to ask him on a date. 

He also certainly wasn’t expecting to fall so hard so fast for the recalcitrant and reclusive man. Tony was typically extremely demanding and he tended to burn relationships out fast – but Bruce seemed completely oblivious to Tony’s demands. He was plenty interested, Tony didn’t doubt that – Bruce planned all kinds of interesting and fun dates, texted him through the day, and went out of his way to spend time with him at his apartment. 

But at the same time, it was clear his life was never going to revolve around Tony the way he was used to. Bruce played hard to get without even trying. The first time Tony tried to start a fight about not being able to get in touch with him over the weekend Bruce just smiled this easy going smile and shook his head and that was it. He just genuinely had his own shit going on that was equally as interesting to him as Tony and Tony didn’t even know what to do with that. 

Bruce would call him at midnight to talk about a book he’d just read. He would show up in the morning before Tony went to work with smoothies from down the street just because it was the only time their schedules were certain. He would leave work at six on a Saturday then go into the mountains with a tent and his dogs, drop them off at his place Sunday night then go over to Tony’s, shower off his mountain man grime, make himself a couple peanut butter sandwiches, fold each entire sandwich in half and eat them in a few quick bites with a large glass of milk, then fuck Tony raw. 

Tony had never dated anyone like Bruce before.

Three months in and feeling vulnerable with his head pillowed on Bruce’s chest, running his hand across the soft, thick mat of hair there he asked in a quiet voice, “Will you spend the night tonight?” 

And Bruce just chuckled and ran his hand through Tony's hair affectionately. “The dogs get scared at night if I leave them all alone.”

He tried not to be petty as his hand stilled in the center of Bruce's abs. “I get scared at night when I’m left all alone too.” 

“Is that so?” Bruce asked with an amused little smirk as he shifted beneath him, rolling him back into the sheets and kissing him until he was breathless and he didn’t really care to protest.

It was another month or so before he tried again with a different tact. 

“Next time we oughta do this at your place,” he said, sweaty and out of breath and grinning over at the other man in his bed. 

“I’m really not sure that’s such a good idea,” Bruce offered as his breathing evened out. 

“Why not?” Tony asked, truly curious, the closest they’ve ever come to breaching this topic before. 

“You just – you don’t really like dogs,” Bruce replied and Tony could swear he saw him blush in the dim light and he had never seen Bruce, a man who would go get a pizza from the pizza guy in nothing but sweat and a towel low around his hips, blush about anything before. 

“What?” Tony asked with indignation, laughing breathily. “I love dogs.”

Bruce burst out laughing then and Tony felt completely confused. He turned up on his side and looked over at Tony, obvious affection in his expression. 

“You lie with such a straight face.”

“I am pretty good at it, huh?” Tony teased. “It’s almost like I’m not lying.”

“You are definitely lying,” Bruce replied with a soft smile. “Every time I mention them you scrunch up your nose in disgust.” 

“I do not!” Tony defended, aghast that Bruce would say something like that. 

“You absolutely do – it’s your tell.”

“I do  _ not _ have a tell.”

“Not when you’re lying, no, your face is completely straight, you do it very well – but when you hear something you don’t like unguarded? You absolutely scrunch your nose.”

Tony tried not to scrunch his nose at that and instead offered Bruce one of his patented pouts.

“It’s cute,” Bruce tried to appease him but that wasn’t really what he wanted. 

“Okay so I don’t like dogs,” he said, scooting closer to Bruce so he was laying up against him, looking up into his eyes. “But I like  _ you _ . And I want to spend the night with you. So I can get over the dogs.”

Bruce frowned like he was uncertain but Tony didn’t push it. He put it out there and if he’d learned anything about Bruce in the past four months, it was that pushing him was the quickest way to get him to back off completely. 

Thankfully though, he didn’t have to wait another month before Bruce was calling him up and inviting him to dinner at his place. 

“I don’t think you understand though,” he said, his voice tinny and flat on the phone line but Tony didn’t care, he was just bursting with pleasure that at long last he was getting to see Bruce’s place and spend the night with him. “I have a  _ lot _ of dogs.”

“Okay so,” Tony laughed, “what’s a lot of dogs to you? Two, three, twenty-three?” 

“Five,” Bruce answered honestly and Tony tried hard not to cringe and was just thankful they were doing this over the phone and not in person. 

_ FIVE _ ? Tony immediately envisioned his place being covered in dog hair and dog smell and dog...  _ dogginess _ and yeah – he did more than scrunch his fucking nose at that. Frankly, when he heard Bruce talk about dogs  _ plural _ what he imagined was two and even that was two too many.

“How does that even happen?” he asked when he managed to recover from that admission. 

“What?” 

“ _ Five _ dogs?” 

“Oh,” Bruce kind of laughed, clearly chagrined. “I guess I just kind of have a thing for collecting strays.”

It wasn’t until after they’d pinned down the details and hung up that Tony realized he maybe should have been offended by the implication. 

But Tony had never dated anyone like Bruce before.

And he didn’t really know what to expect when he showed up to his address on the outskirts of the city, an old hold over that somehow managed to miss the rapid expansion development of the surrounding areas. But Bruce's place was a tiny little brick number on what looked like a full acre of land fenced in around the back. There was a carport for fuck’s sake instead of a real garage and half of it was taken up with biking equipment and large wireframe dog cages and camping... stuff and the other half contained Bruce’s old beat-up Jeep.

Normally the people he dated had swanky apartments or condos in the city or at the very least some kind of hellish McMansion and it was a shocking change of pace just like everything about Bruce – and it piqued his curiosity dramatically as he walked up to the storm door and rang the doorbell. 

He sort of expected to be bombarded by dogs from the get go but there was just Bruce in the door, smiling at him uncertainly. 

“Tony,” he said rather formally as he opened the door for him and Tony stepped in with an optimistic bag of clothes slung over his shoulder, reaching out for Bruce and pulling him into a more than welcome kiss. 

That seemed to put him at ease a little and Bruce smiled warmly at him, his arms around his waist. But then Tony’s eyes landed on the menagerie of dogs sitting and watching them right at the edge of the foyer, patiently but excitedly smacking their tails on the floor as they watched their owner with this newcomer. 

“Are you ready to meet them?” Bruce asked cautiously and Tony tried very hard to keep his face straight. 

“Sure,” Tony replied, a lot more confident than he felt but he really had no specific reason to dislike dogs he just... didn’t like them.

“Okay guys, be nice,” Bruce instructed before calling one of them forward and Tony was thankful he had them so well trained and the foresight not to overwhelm him all at once. “JoJo?” 

JoJo was a white standard poodle who was shaved down short and didn’t seem particularly interested in him beyond sniffing him down and giving him a good long glare before bumping her nose into Bruce’s thigh until he stroked her head.

“She’s kind of a bitch,” Bruce warned with a laugh. “It will take her a long time to warm up to you.”

Tony didn’t say he might  _ never _ warm up to her.

“Okay Jasper, Lily.”

Jasper was a young lab mix and Lily a black border collie and they both circled him a few times, wagging their tails and trying not to jump, nosing his hand and working to get his attention. 

“Just – pretend you like them a minute and give them a few pats and they’ll be content and leave you alone,” Bruce offered, watching him nervously as Tony tried since he really wasn’t asking a lot.

“Hey guys,” Tony offered, reaching down and patting their heads awkwardly as they stood there preening under the attention for a minute. 

Honestly Tony was surprised by how easy it was to get them to back off with the little acknowledgement he’d offered. They looked to Bruce and then JoJo and then the last two sitting there before bounding off to find something more interesting than him. 

“Your turn Fishie,” Bruce said, leaning down as an ancient Pomeranian walked forward, ignoring Tony completely in favor of Bruce. 

“... Fishie?” he asked in disbelief and Bruce laughed as he scooped the little dog up into his arms, stroking it’s head gently as JoJo lay down beside his feet. 

“He was my mom’s dog, really, before she died,” Bruce explained as he brought him over, Tony lifting his hand to let the dog sniff it carefully. “She always told me she’d never, ever get a dog – the only pet I was ever allowed to have was a fish. But she never even let me have that. Then one day she came home with Fishie. I guess a coworker paid a ton of money for this little guy then her kid ended up being allergic or something but anyway – my mom took him. His name was actually some pedigree thing – Cupid’s Arrow or something stupid – but we started jokingly calling him Fishie and it stuck.”

Tony had let his fingers touch the fluffy little cheek of this guy but it was hard to keep his eyes off Bruce as he stared down at the ratty thing with such love. Bruce never talked about his past like that. To get a whole story out of him all at once seemed like a gift. 

Bruce scratched under the little dog’s chin and Fishie closed his eyes like it was some kind of bliss and Tony could sympathize – he was pretty sure he’d made that same face when Bruce touched him. But then Bruce was walking him over to the edge of the foyer and setting the dog back into the living area beyond it. 

The final dog was a pit with badly cropped ears and he was basically losing his entire mind waiting to be allowed to meet Tony and if Tony had said he wasn’t anxious about that, it would have been a bald faced lie. He was whining and hoping up on his front legs and Bruce gave him a very severe look before turning to Tony. 

“He’s new,” Bruce explained. “He’s super friendly but he has to learn the rules. If he tries to jump on you, just turn your back to him, okay?” 

Tony nodded and swallowed at the same time. He was a pretty strong, self confident guy but this was a pretty big, heavy dog and he looked like he might try to bowl him over. But Bruce stood right in front of him, taking something from his pocket and holding it in his fist. JoJo came back around and sniffed at Tony's feet then huffed like Tony was below her and he tried not to laugh.

“Hey, Bandit, sit – look at me,” Bruce instructed, Bandit whining but obeying after a moment, practically vibrating with nervous energy. “No jumping, okay? We don’t jump on new people.”

His heavy tail beat on the ground and they made eye contact a moment before Bruce moved away and told him it was okay. Tony tried not to be nervous as Bandit bounded the short distance of the foyer towards him like he was going to leap straight at his chest but at the very last minute he pulled out of it and slid a little on the parquet floor. Bandit clearly wanted to jump and he kind of did, his front paws bouncing off the ground as he nosed Tony’s stomach excitedly but they landed straight back on the floor again, his body wiggling happily before looking back at Bruce then back again at Tony and licking his hand. 

Bruce clearly had mixed emotions about that display but he seemed to take it as a win. 

“Pretty good, come ‘re,” he said, patting his leg and Bandit immediately turned to him and Bruce crouched down on his level.

Bruce offered his hand to Bandit giving him a treat then running his hands up and down his body vigorously as he lavished the dog in praise and Bandit shimmied and licked his face enthusiastically. 

“Okay, okay, no kisses,” Bruce laughed as Bandit gave his chin another lick. “I’m saving those for Tony.” 

Despite himself Tony found the entire thing stupidly endearing as Lily came back and nuzzled Bruce's ear. It was a side of Bruce that Tony hadn’t seen before. He’d seen him be gentle and kind, of course – he was always gentle and kind to him. But there was a level of openness to him at that moment that made Tony’s heart careen wildly against his ribcage. 

“You guys want to go out for a bit?” he asked as he stood, looking over at Tony and motioning with his eyes that he could follow as Bruce walked back through the living area, even JoJo seeming a little excited about that prospect. 

Tony followed into the little living room with rough hewn wood paneling on the walls and a stonework fireplace and a boring brown plush couch and loveseat flanking it. There wasn’t a TV and it occurred to him Bruce might not even own one. 

There was a sliding glass door at the back of the room however and Bruce opened it to let the four big dogs out and as they bounded into the backyard to play, Tony was a big enough man to admit he felt a sense of relief. Fishie had curled up in a little bed by the fireplace and seemed content not to bother them. Bruce smiled over at him as he shut the door. 

“You want something to drink? I’ve got a couple bottles of red but beer and water too.” 

Tony realized then that he could smell something delicious roasting and the dogginess he had been concerned about wasn’t really present. Then again, it was clear Bruce took exceptional care of his dogs, and he gave himself a minute to appreciate that. Maybe it wouldn’t be as terrible as he thought and he really would get to spend the night with him tonight. 

“Uh, yeah, sure – red is fine,” he said as he followed Bruce into the small eat-in kitchen as Bruce washed his hands after petting the dogs – another thing Tony was grateful for. 

There was a London broil marinating on the counter and despite the simplicity of the kitchen and it’s basic contractor's cabinets and Formica counter tops there was a double oven and both of them were going. Bruce poured him a glass of wine as he set his bag on one of the chairs at the small, square table. Tony moved back over to take it from him, feeling suddenly nervous for no reason other than that he’d never been there before and it made things still feel new with Bruce. They’d been dating five months and he was just now at his house.

“It wasn’t too bad, was it?” Bruce asked and Tony realized as he took a sip of wine that Bruce was nervous too – a fact which amused him to no end. He had no idea how easy it would be rattle his seemingly unflappable boyfriend. 

So he set the glass down and slipped his arms around his waist, pulling him in close and giving him a long, lingering kiss. And Tony loved kissing him like that, feeling his raw, unpretentious masculinity in his arms and under his lips. It filled him with an irrepressible lust he worked to restrain so that they could get through dinner. 

“You’ve spent a lot of time working with them,” Tony said as he leaned back to look at him. “I’m surprised you’re not a dog trainer.” 

Bruce shrugged a bit modestly and then smirked. “I used to do it on the side sometimes. Frustrating, though – when other people aren’t dedicated to maintaining the training or don’t take very good care of their dogs then expect you to fix it in a couple sessions.”

Tony let Bruce go to get a dish out of the oven and prep to put the steak in as he stood back out of his way and sipped his wine. He glanced over at the casserole dish with interest, the warm smell of crispy cheese enticing him, and Bruce smirked. 

“Scalloped potatoes,” he said. “And steak and roasted brussel sprouts.”

“I see – you’ve been holding out on me,” he teased, moving into Bruce’s space, magnetically attracted to him. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

Bruce just smiled that easygoing smile of his. 

“Can do a lot of things,” he murmured, the words full of an intent that made Tony shiver as Bruce leaned in and kissed him.

Bruce turned out to be a pretty decent cook and despite Tony’s reservations, the dogs knew they weren’t allowed in the kitchen and didn’t bother them the entire time. Tony cleaned up the kitchen for him as Bruce fed them one by one and then they settled into the couch to listen to ‘his favorite’ audiobook. 

“You are so weird,” Tony mused at him with a smile but Bruce just smiled back and honestly? Tony really liked how weird he was – five dogs notwithstanding. 

However, Tony felt this was also a pretty convenient excuse to make out so he settled in close, throwing his arm around Bruce’s shoulders as he leaned his head into his neck, relishing in the feeling of Bruce’s solid arm around his waist. And he grinned up at him  _ Middlemarch _ began, ready to move in for the kill when JoJo jumped her whole practically human-sized body into Bruce’s lap and claimed it as her own.

Bruce laughed as she pressed her nose up into his chin, trying to get his attention, and Tony couldn’t help but be a little miffed. Yes, it was dumb to put himself in competition with a  _ dog _ but... still.  _ He _ wanted Bruce’s undivided attention.

“JoJo,” he admonished warmly, stroking her neck and then pushing her gently off his lap and to the side, “you can sit here too but Tony’s a little higher in the pack hierarchy than you, okay?” 

Tony could swear she looked at him and glared as she put one paw back on Bruce's thigh possessively. 

“She’s too smart for her own good,” Bruce told him as he pushed her paw off his leg and then moved in to kiss him. 

Then Tony wasn’t too bothered by the dog because kissing Bruce was the best. Normally by the six month point he got bored and restless and kissing was boring and he was already looking around for other options but Bruce? Kissing him was still electric and his big hand on the back of his head, his fingers through his hair, his warm lips on his and his tongue gentle and teasing drove Tony mad. He always set the pace, always went slower than Tony wanted, always took his time like Tony was something new even though by now he had touched every single part of him, always made him feel like he was turning him inside out and exploring all the hidden secrets contained within his body and soul and it was so intimate and so fucking hot that Tony could barely stand it. 

Tony had never dated anyone like Bruce before. 

He put his hand on his knee, holding it tight, wanting to straddle his lap and fuck him into the couch right there with his clothes on, but he remained there beside him – the deliberate torture of sitting so close and not being felt up painful and exquisite. It never seemed pressing for Bruce – it always seemed like he could sit there, doing just this all day. And it made Tony feel small and immature and needy but it also made him feel really... safe. In all his other relationships he was always consumed with the same level of voracity that Tony had, any and all attraction being burnt up and left to ash in a few weeks. But Bruce? Bruce seemed so strong and steady that it kind of scared him. It made him feel like this was more than what it was. It made him feel a little like forever. 

But as he slid his hand up Bruce’s leg it was stopped by a paw on the back of his fingers and Tony tensed, drawing Bruce’s suspicion and he moved his mouth away. 

“Hmm?” he asked, breathing a little hard, and Tony couldn’t help but feel good that despite Bruce’s steady nature Tony  _ clearly _ had an affect on him.

“Your dog,” Tony laughed and Bruce looked down and rolled his eyes. 

“JoJo,” he admonished, moving her paw off Tony's hand. “You can just push her paw off if she does that. She’s going to have to get used to you.”

Tony wasn’t sure he was comfortable with that but the paw was gone now so he smiled and reconnected their lips, pushing his hand down into Bruce’s crotch, feeling him spread his legs a little to give Tony’s hand more room to press against his dick hard in his pants. 

He started sucking on his neck, feeling the way Bruce was breathing hard, totally into what Tony was doing, making Tony feel pretty damn good about himself as well. But when he finally managed to unravel Bruce enough that he moaned the paw was back on his wrist and there was a little whine from behind him and Tony stopped.

When he pulled his face from Bruce’s neck he realized not only did JoJo have her paw on his wrist but Bandit was sitting by the couch watching Bruce intently with his tail smacking the floor anxiously and even Fishie was looking up from his bed over at them and it made Tony feel extremely uncomfortable and exposed. 

“They’re watching us,” he said as Bruce chuckled, pushing JoJo’s paw away again. 

“They’re just curious about you,” Bruce assured him but Tony flopped back on the couch, disheartened. 

“They are  _ watching _ us,” he repeated, looking at Bandit who was staring back at him with that dumb, happy look dogs had sometimes that made him uneasy for no rational reason. 

Bruce stroked JoJo’s head a moment, clearly feeling frustrated that Tony wanted to stop over his dogs but then he looked at him hopefully. 

“Bedroom?” 

Tony looked back, grinning. “If you shut the door.” 

Bruce leaned forward and kissed him with his own dumb, happy grin and pulled him up off the couch, waltzing him down the hallway with kisses to his lips, his face, his neck, and his chest until they made it to the room and he shut the door behind him with his foot. 

They rolled into bed together and Tony didn’t notice a single thing about the room other than that Bruce was in it. He was painfully into him and his fuzzy chest and his deep smile and his crazy hair laid back on the pillow and his five o’clock shadow and his narrow hips that were so nice to straddle and the way Tony's lips left red marks on the sensitive skin of his neck even when he wasn’t trying. 

He rode him like he was never going to get the chance again, slamming down onto his dick while steadying himself with a hand on Bruce's chest, watching Bruce watching him so intently, like it wasn’t the physical sensation that was going to get him off but just the faces Tony was making and the way he moved. Bruce had his hands on Tony's hips, and he pressed his own hips up every time Tony came down, and with the build up of pressure in his gut he was pretty sure he didn’t even need to jerk himself off to come but it hurt so bad he couldn’t help it. 

When Bruce came his whole face dissolved and he moaned in a way that pierced through all that pressure, the dam breaking, and Tony pulled himself off with a gratuitous moan of his own that left him gasping and seeing stars. How the sex could still be so good after so many months, Tony did not understand. But then...

Tony had never dated anyone like Bruce before.

He collapsed on his chest, burying his face in Bruce's sweaty neck and laughing with him, happy in his post-coital high. Bruce offered to wipe him off but Tony asked if he could take a shower, which Bruce easily agreed to, no reason to deny him. So Bruce got up to wipe himself down first and Tony was left to eye the room, making sense of the sparse yet eclectic decor. 

It looked like a teenager’s room that some parent decided to spruce up – posters on the walls as well as a variety of plants, two large dog beds by the closet and mismatched end tables. The comforter didn’t match the sheets and the bed wasn’t even made – Tony realized belatedly – more decorative pillows adoring it then ones you’d actually use to sleep on. It kind of made him laugh but it seemed very much like his completely unconcerned Bruce to fill his space with the things he wanted rather than what made decorative sense.

And Bruce was smiling as he left the bathroom, like nothing made him happier than seeing Tony in his bed, and the little flutter in Tony's gut was more than enough to have made tackling his dislike of dogs worth it. Really – despite that, this whole night had been nice so far. And after his shower he was going to curl up in bed with his Bruce in his house and talk with him late into the night until they both fell asleep. 

Bruce’s bathroom was just as silly – children’s anti-slip grip stickers in the shape of fish on the floor of the shower with handmade lavender soap from a farmer’s market in the dish – and Tony loved it. Everything about Bruce made him feel young and free again – his house no exception.

After toweling off, he checked his just-fucked glow in the mirror, grinning to himself before walking out into the bedroom, looking forward to cuddling only to find Bruce in the center of the bed surrounded by every single one of his five dogs. 

He was propped up against the headboard, reading a book, casually naked over the covers, looking relaxed and far more attractive than he had any right to look. With his dogs surrounding him in a room replete with warm tones and plants he looked like some kind of rough lumberjack who just got home from a hard day hewing trees, surrounded by his little constituency of dogs. 

And for some reason, although Tony wanted to let it bother him, it just... didn’t. It was just such a pleasing physical image that he simply laughed as he walked up, watching Bruce smile up at him from his book, truly happy that he was there. With Bruce there was nothing to doubt. So he had five dogs – at least he didn’t have a boyfriend on the side or an insurmountable mountain of debt or a crazy ex who stalked him or any of the hundreds of other unpleasantries Tony had run across in the past.

Tony had never dated anyone like Bruce before. 

“Is there room for me in there?” he asked with a laugh and Bruce laughed too. 

“Hey guys, let’s let Tony in,” he announced, pushing everyone but Fishie off the bed as they stared between the two humans, confused.

Bruce set his book down with the little dog and moved them to the corner of the bed. Tony slid in with him as Bruce adjusted the sheets around them. He picked back up his book as he slipped his arm beneath Tony’s shoulders, rolling him in close. Tony smiled up at him, pressing his lips underneath his jaw firmly before pillowing his head comfortably on Bruce's shoulder. 

JoJo was looking at him with her little chin on the comforter, staring at him with hurt eyes and Bruce frowned, hesitating. 

“It’s okay,” Tony said softly and Bruce looked over at him, surprised. 

“You’re sure?” he asked and Tony nodded.

“I’m sure,” he said, squeezing Bruce around the waist a little with a laugh. “I’ve got the prime position already.”

Bruce’s easy smile grew a little deeper, his eyes softening in a way Tony hadn’t seen before as he leaned in and kissed him hard. And Tony liked that look in his eyes, liked how it made him feel to make Bruce happy. Maybe he wasn’t a dog person, but he wasn’t going to fight with Bruce about it either when he clearly loved his dogs. 

JoJo jumped up first when Bruce gave her permission, laying next to Bruce on his other side, clearly pleased by the position. Lily jumped up on the other side, staring down at Tony and nosing his face with her wet nose and making him tense up, eyes wide in surprise as Bruce chuckled at him. She licked his cheek once before settling down next to him and resting her face in the crook of his neck and Tony lay there in shock, unsure if he should move or not. 

“She likes to cuddle too,” Bruce explained as he pressed his own kiss to Tony’s forehead and Tony felt himself ease up as Jasper took over the bottom corner of the bed, beneath Lily.

Bandit had retreated to one of the dog beds when he was pushed off and though he watched the other dogs get into bed, he stayed where he was, clearly not sold on Tony being in bed as he huffed before laying his head on his paws.

“You okay?” Bruce asked after a moment and Tony grinned, running his fingers idly against Bruce’s hip under the sheets as Lily yawned in his ear, tickingly it and making him laugh. 

“Oh yeah,” Tony replied, feeling safe and warm and so happy that finally he was going to get to fall asleep in Bruce’s arms. “This is perfect.”

“Thank you,” Bruce said softly, running his thumb against Tony's shoulder and giving him a soft smile, not having to explain what he was thanking him for because Tony knew. He knew.

“What are you reading?” he asked and Bruce flashed him the cover, explaining the premise as he listened with attention while Lily nuzzled at his ear and Tony realized... 

He’d never dated anyone like Bruce before – but he didn’t think he ever wanted to date anyone else again.


End file.
